City of Abilene News

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Teen After Hours Takeovers @ Your Library

Post Date:07/12/2017 2:49 PM

It's often said, in the world of public libraries, that teens are one of the most elusive demographics to reach. Unlike the teens of past generations, libraries are competing with school schedules and extracurricular activities, video games, smartphones, tablets, social media, and more. However, your Abilene Public Library is experiencing success with local teens through utilizing after hours programming, which have been well-received.

Having begun at the South Branch Library, a monthly after hours movie night was offered to teens. Each month features popular flicks based on the viewing tastes (and age appropriateness) of those attending sessions. To our delight, the response by local teens was great, and these programs would later evolve into get-togethers where teens hung out with library staff to socialize, eat snacks, laugh, and watch some great flicks too. Plus, as they were hosted on Friday nights, they also allowed parents to have a night out themselves while they're kids were having fun and being supervised for a few hours.

Based on the popularity of this Teen Flix After Hours series, both the Main Library and Mockingbird Branch locations began offering similar programming for teens to enjoy. Each location offers different after hours fun for local teens with past programs having delved into social gaming sessions, painting nights, glow-in-the-dark parties, Nerf wars, anime meetups, Dungeons & Dragons nights, and more, with programs pulling in dozens of teens each time.

So not only do teens come out to have fun with staff and their peers, parents can also rest assured that their children are safe during all activities. Each event is hosted after the library has closed for the evening, and teens are supervised in activities by at least two (2) library employees throughout the duration of the program. For each session, a pickup time is provided so parents/guardians know when to return for pickup, but events usually last approximately 2-hours, depending on the activity.

So be sure to check out our upcoming events and lookout for more after hours teen events at your library.